


Not Really A Dragon

by laurahonest



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Friendship, Gen, searching for meaning, self reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 07:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1597370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurahonest/pseuds/laurahonest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levy makes an observation and Gajeel spends a week thinking about it.  He isn't really like a traditional dragon, but he used to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Really A Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> This fic follows [The Soup Was Worth the Pain](http://archiveofourown.org/works/994228) but you don't have to have read the first one to understand this one.

Sometimes if you paused and looked back at your life you could pinpoint the exact moment your life changed irrevocably. If you were lucky that was a good change, sometimes what initially seemed to be a bad change ended up being the best thing that could have happened to you. Sometimes change was so gradual that you couldn’t really tell it was even happening. 

Gajeel was not a man given to thinking about his past, his future or anything beyond the day he was living. Every now and then though he would take a moment to think about how very different his current life and his life with his former guild were. When he was a member of Phantom Lord and the highest ranked wizard there he had been like a mythical dragon. Not just because he was an Iron Dragon Slayer and ate iron and was so powerful no one could touch him. He had been like an actual dragon. Fierce and violent, prone to hoarding, furious if his meals were interrupted and prone to cruel actions. The only draconic characteristic that he hadn’t exhibited was the desire to capture and consume virgins from nearby villages. Metalicana hadn’t done that either though so Gajeel was inclined to think that particular trait was fictional. Gajeel had been willing to do anything the nastier minded Jose had asked of him as long as he was given ample pay and all the iron he could eat.

Gajeel had not really thought about his former draconic personality much until the day that Levy pointed out how very different he and the other Fairy Tail dragonslayers were from traditional dragons. That one small comment had sent him off into deep soul searching and self reflection. His ultimate conclusion was blatantly obvious to Juvia, who had known him both before and after, he was much better off and much happier in Fairy Tail than he had ever been as a member of Phantom Lord. Juvia also thought that a large part of Gajeel’s happiness in Fairy Tail was due to the presence of Levy but she kept that thought to herself. 

Once Gajeel reached his conclusion he thought he was finished with it but it kept popping back up and demanding to have his attention. He shoved the thoughts back down, there was no way he was going to declare his undying love, loyalty and gratitude to Fairy Tail. He had some pride after all. The more he tried to ignore it the more it bothered him. Finally he decided that he would share his revelation with Levy, after all it had been her fault he had thought about it for a week. 

Gajeel set out to tell her all about it but she was never alone. Lucy hung around her a lot and those weak pests Jet and Droy spent every moment they could in her presence. The shrimp was popular. She was never alone. He spent 3 days watching for his chance to talk to her without being overheard. On the fourth day he had had enough. He told Panther Lily that he was going to the park to sit in the quiet and stomped out of the guild hall with a scowl on his face. Most of the guild didn’t notice him leave, but Levy saw and she saw the irritation on his face, it matched her own mood. 

Levy loved her guild and her friends; she really did, sometimes though she felt overwhelmed by all of the people and the noise. It was hard to practice her script magic with constant interruptions. It was hard to study ancient languages with all the constant noise. She had tried staying at home to work but people beat down her door with worry when she didn’t show up at the guild hall. She sighed and admitted to herself that she was a bit jealous that Gajeel could come and go as he pleased without people worrying that something was wrong. 

Half an hour after Gajeel left Levy heaved a sigh and started packing her books away. She had to admit that she wasn’t going to get any more work done. In that mere half hour she had been interrupted more times than she cared to think about. Natsu had bumped into her while fighting with Gray, he hadn’t hurt her but the bump had ruined her spell. Happy had dropped a fish on her book, the book was fine but she had lost her place and had to reread the entire page. Jet and Droy had argued over who would get to take her to dinner that night, neither of them had actually asked her if she wanted to go to dinner with them though. Thirty minutes spent on the same spell and no progress made at all. She finished packing her stuff and turned to Jet and Droy to find them waiting for her. It was the last straw, they were still arguing over dinner. She told them both she would be eating dinner alone at her own house and that she was going to the bookstore alone too. Then she stomped out the doors and walked away as fast as her short legs could take her. 

Once Levy was away from the noise and distraction of the guild hall she slowed down and enjoyed her walk. She decided to take a detour through the park and drop her books off at home before going to the book store to buy more. The park was gorgeous. It was full summer and there were flowers all over. The day was nice and the park was quiet. She decided to sit under a tree for a while and read the book she had been trying to read earlier. Levy headed toward her favorite tree. It was a large one with a lot of flowers under it, near the edge of the lake. When she got there she was disappointed to find someone already leaning against the tree.

Gajeel couldn’t believe his luck. The one person he had wanted to talk to for the last four days was walking up to the tree he was leaning against. He jumped up to talk to her, anxious to get out the words that were demanding to be spoken before someone else showed up and got in his way again. “Hi shrimp” he called out. 

“Oh Gajeel,” Levy replied with evident relief, “it’s you, I thought a stranger was sitting under my tree.”

Gajeel laughed, “I didn’t know this was your tree, I never see you out here, always in the guild hall surrounded by people.”

Levy smiled and sat down under the tree. “Yeah, I come out here when I need a break from all the noise and fighting. I can’t come very often though or they send out search parties. They seem to think that I am going to get buried alive in a pile of books one day so if I don’t show up they assume the worst has happened.” She smiled as she spoke but Gajeel could sense the frustration she felt.

Gajeel flopped back down under the tree and laughed again, “I think we would know if you got buried in a pile of books. I think all of Magnolia would feel the earthquake.”

Levy appreciated him joking about it. The other guild members worry made her feel incompetent but Gajeel completely dismissing their worries reminded her that she wasn’t as useless as they thought. 

Gajeel wasn’t sure how to start the conversation he wanted to have with Levy. He sat nervously for a while before finally deciding to just get it out and let the chips fall where they may. “Levy,” he blurted, “remember that comment you made about a week about me not being much like a traditional dragon?” He paused and looked at her, she nodded at him so he continued, “well, I used to be much more like a dragon. Before…………back when I was a member of Phantom Lord, I let Master Jose use me to do whatever he wanted as long as he paid me well and gave me all the iron I could eat. I was mean, I was cruel and I didn’t care what others thought of me. I lived for the hunt and I hoarded my gold like an actual dragon. I did horrible things and I just didn’t care. I didn’t care if I hurt people, even my own guild mates.” He paused here for a moment and looked at her. 

Levy smiled encouragingly at him so he picked the story back up, “One day, Master Jose ordered me to trash the Fairy Tail guild. He told me to find a member of the guild and make an example of them. I found you and I didn’t even think twice about what I did to you. I went home and ate my fill and slept peacefully in my hoard of gold that night.” He paused again and his face was red. 

Levy could see that he was ashamed of his former actions now. She reached out and gently placed her hand on his leg. Gajeel looked up at her and she saw that his eyes were wet. He roughly wiped the tears away, took a deep breath and continued, “It wasn’t for a long time that I actually felt shame for what I had done. The next day when Natsu fought me, he was furious and his fury gave him strength. He had a better reason to fight than I did so he beat the crap out of me. I wondered why he was so different than me, why he had friends, why he was willing to fight for other people. After he beat me I lost interest in my hoarded gold, with the guild disbanded I had no home and that didn’t bother me, I didn’t feel like I deserved one but I didn’t know why I felt that way. When Juvia asked me to come with her to Fairy Tail I refused her. When Master Makarov asked me I tried to refuse him, he wouldn’t let me.”

He smiled, remembering the tiny man making him feel scared to say no. Then he continued the story, “I spent months observing Fairy Tail and trying to figure out why Natsu was so different than I was. Most people were still scared of me, but you were kind. You stood up for me when others wanted to kick me out. I couldn’t understand that. Then came that day that I jumped in front of you and stopped Laxus from frying you, I had no idea then why I moved, I don’t even remember moving. One minute I was watching him shoot lightning at you and the next minute I was the one being hit. I started to realize it that day, when you helped me even though you were scared. You took me home, patched me up and fed me soup. When Laxus started the Fairy Tail battle I was pretty sure the main difference between me and Natsu was friendship. He had lots of friends and I didn’t. After that battle when he and I teamed up to take down Laxus I felt like I was starting to become a part of this guild. I remembered what you said to Laxus about family being more important. After that battle everything changed for me. I clearly saw how everyone in Fairy Tail treated each other like friend and family. I stopped trying to hide in the corner and started to let people into my life. I may not be as well liked as Natsu but I feel like I belong, like I am a part of this family now. All of this is because of you. Because even though I hurt you, you still accepted me. Once you accepted me the others started to as well. I never knew what I was missing until I met you. I never stopped to think about how different I am now until you made me think about it.”

Gajeel stared at the tiny hand sitting on his leg; he couldn’t believe that it hadn’t been that long ago that he had hung this tiny little girl to a tree in this park just because Jose had told him to. Levy picked up her hand and he closed his eyes, he had said too much and scared her off; she was going to leave. He could hear her tiny body moving. He sat and waited for her to walk away but she didn’t, she moved that tiny hand up and put it on his cheek. His eyes flew open and met hers. She was smiling. 

“Gajeel,” she said, “you are definitely a part of the Fairy Tail family. Yes, you got a rough start but you have fought just as hard as anyone else to protect this family since you joined us. They don’t treat you quite the same as Natsu, but you aren’t Natsu. He is like the kid brother everyone loves but also picks on. You are like the older, quieter, more mature brother that they look up to. We know we can count on both of you no matter what.” Levy laughed and Gajeel was a bit confused. “Maybe I should challenge your self perceptions more often. You really took my little observation and ran with it didn’t you? See that is another way you are different than Natsu, he would have just said ‘because I am not a dragon Levy, duh’ and run off to punch Gray if I had said that to him.”

Gajeel laughed with her this time. The two of them sat under that tree for the rest of the day. Levy never did make it to the bookstore or learn the spell she had been working on that day but she didn’t regret it. From that day on Levy, Gajeel and Lily were seen together a lot more. No one was surprised when she picked him to be her teammate for the S-class test. There were several knowing smiles among the older guild members and several thousand jewel changed hands as a result of bets made on them.


End file.
